A quick survey of virtual reality apps beyond gaming

By Dean Takahashi

Virtual reality has been billed as the next big thing for gaming. It is expected to be a $30 billion segment of a larger $150 billion augmented reality/virtual reality market by 2020, according to technology advisors Digi-Capital.

But a lot of that market could go beyond games, and Harald Krefting, a senior creative developer at digital agency AKQA, showed a slice of those applications at the Quo Vadis gaming conference in Berlin today. The apps covered industries such as cars, retail, advertising, medicine, manufacturing, and communication.